


3 times sherrezade surprised ja'far + 1 time ja'far surprised sherrezade

by hardlyawake



Category: Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier - Holmes/McMahon/Lang & Lang & Gale
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, minor hurt/comfort, secret snape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-24 18:54:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22082815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardlyawake/pseuds/hardlyawake
Summary: this is the only couple that matters (done as part of a gift exchange)
Relationships: Ja'far/Sherrezade (Twisted)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	3 times sherrezade surprised ja'far + 1 time ja'far surprised sherrezade

****

**The night they meet.**

The newly betrothed couple practically stumbling over themselves into the nearest tavern, ordering their finest drink and sneaking onto a rooftop, gazing up at the stars. 

She’s laying on his chest, listening to him speak about his ambitions at the palace. Of his discontent with the noblemen’s attitude towards new ideas. Suddenly, her sleepy smile is gone and she’s sat upright, grinning at him with bright eyes. 

“You do realize what that means, though?” She says. 

“What?” Ja’far replies, confused but smiling as he so often is with Sherrezade. 

“So long as you appeal to their own egos, make your plans profitable to them...” She can see him frowning a bit at the thought. “Make them _seem_ profitable,” she amends, “Enough that they won’t be paying too much attention. Once you do that, you’ll be able to make any changes you like, right under their noses.”

Ja’far sits up a bit to smile at her, eyes bright with admiration. “I suppose I didn’t think of it like that.”

He reaches to tuck back a lock of her hair, but his elbow collides with something hard. They both turn at the soft _clink_! to see their bottle of wine slowly spilling onto the stone roof.

“I’ve got it,” Sherrezade whispers, carefully lifting the bottle that by some miracle didn’t break.

“I’m sorry,” Ja’far apologizes with a frown. “There isn't much left, is there?”

Once again, Sherrezade is undeterred. “Not much at all. No use bothering with cups, we'll have to drink from the bottle.” She says with a wink.

So the two set their cups aside and take turns sipping the last of the drink. Ja’far finds himself staring less at the stars and more at the woman beside him, whose eyes seem to shine so brightly at him he feels lighter by the second.

Though, perhaps that could have also been the wine.  
—————  
**The night they both deal with bad news.**

Sherezzade could hardly bring herself to share hers, seeing the mood Ja’far was in when he returned home from the palace. The man’s face was stuck in a worried frown, and he could hardly keep up conversation. 

It took her all of dinner to finally pry an answer out of him about the cause.

His answer was not unexpected, but still concerning nonetheless. Ja’far had failed to convince his peers to spare the lives of a father caught stealing food to feed his family, and the entire family had been sentenced to death. An execution of the innocent would take place tomorrow morning, and her husband would be powerless to stop it. It certainly explained the guilt in his eyes. 

It broke her heart to have to tell him about her visit with the doctor just after, but the longer she waited the more she felt the weight of the news crushing her. She parrots the doctor’s words to Ja’far.

“He called you _barren_?” Ja’far interrupts. The man looks more offended than disappointed. “You’re not a fruit field, for Allah’s sake.”

Sherrezade manages a smile, but only for a moment. “I can never have a child.” She says quietly.

Ja’far says nothing, but she can hear the cogs in his mind turning.

“Are you angry?” She asks worriedly.

“Not at you,” Ja’far replies, finally. He looks her in the eye to show he means it, and she can see him fighting back tears. “I’m just...surprised, is all.”

Sherrezade smiles briefly in relief. “Just when we were looking forward to starting our family.” She gripes.

“We’ll keep praying.” Ja’far replies. “We’ll be a family.” He closes the distance between them in a tight embrace.

She rests her head against his shoulder, feeling just as drained as she know he must be. 

“Today’s not our day.” She mumbles.

Ja’far chuckles sadly and kisses her head. “Not in the least.”  
———————  
**The last day they spend together** , at least until the lamp comes along.

As Ja’far got older, he could feel himself becoming less and less of the polite nobleman he once fashioned himself to be. He tried to control his temper around Sherrezade, but he still felt ashamed every time he came home from a trifling day at the palace. Complaints spilled out of his mouth the second he walked through their door, and only afterwards would he realize he hadn’t even asked his wife how her day was.

On one such trifling day, Ja’far once again entered his home rattling off about the selfish “nobles” the palace deemed fit to handle their kingdom. 

“If I could just speak with the Sultan,” He continued desperately, “If for a minute I could have his ear!”

“As that nobleman took _my_ ear?” Sherrezade interjected.

Ja’far’s eyes widen with concern. “Sherrezade, you jest!”

“I’m only joking, Ja’far.” 

Her husband smiles, for the moment completely forgetting his strife. Sherezzade had a way of doing that, with her stories and jokes. Fueled by that same optimism she showed him when they first met.

He’s in awe of the gorgeous bird she bestows upon him, but even more taken aback when she draws her hands to her stomach and smiles at him.

“Have all of our attempts finally bore fruit, even when the doctors said it could not be so?!”

She simply giggles and nods, the two embracing tightly. 

Sherrezade thinks to herself that she never wants to let Ja’far go, never wants to stop surprising him and making him laugh. 

He reflects her thoughts exactly when he excitedly beckons her to accompany him to the palace, never to be parted again.

—————————  
**\+ 1 Time Ja’far surprised Sherrezade**

The lamp exists outside of time, and space, and the real world. 

It means they have all of eternity to spend with each other, a reality within the lamp they bend to their control, and the ability to watch some really funny movies.

But the lamp falls short in some ways. Ja’far knows that she tries to conceal it, but Sherrezade is becoming bored. In a way that for once, Ja’far can not completely understand.

In the mortal world, Sherrezade had new people everyday to tell her stories to. New connections to be made every time she did so, new faces to watch as she told of mystical tales. Even in her years after the palace incident, the couple had visitors to be entertained by her stories.

In the lamp, there is only Ja’far. And as much as he adores listening to her stories, a point came when she had shared them all. 

Not to mention, Ja’far had been able to pursue his passion as a vizier for dozens of years. There wasn’t a burning flame inside of him to make a bigger change. He’d lived to fulfill his dream.

Sherrezade was not gifted with the same fate. Years of storytelling stolen from her, a flame burning inside of her to tell as many people as possible.

That was why Ja’far had a surprise planned for her. It took quite a long time to simply wrap his gift, as he had to keep it out of sight whenever Sherrezade was around. A difficult task in a one-room lamp. Also, the two didn’t sleep much like they used to as mortals. It wasn’t necessary.

But luckily for Ja’far, Sherrezade still enjoyed a cat nap now and again. He seized his opportunity to summon a simple covering for his gift and waited until she awoke.

“Good morning,” she greets sleepily with a stretch. “Excited to see me?”

Ja’far cocks his head in confusion before realizing how tensely he’s perched on the edge of their bed. “Always. But today in particular.”

Sherrezade smiles, hopping off of the bed. “What makes today special?”

“I have a surprise.” Ja’far answers, stepping behind her. “Close your eyes.”

Sherrezade complies, covering her eyes with her hands. 

Ja’far guides her towards the covered gift. “Open them!”

Sherrezade blinks at the object in front of her. “What is it?”

“Open it.” 

She does, revealing a small mechanical contraption. An array of Arabic letters on small buttons lines the front of it, behind which a tray of white parchment sat. 

“A typewriter,” Ja’far explains, “To write your stories on.”

Sherrezade smiles at him, then at the contraption, fiddling with a few of the buttons. “Thank you.”

“I know it’s not the same as another person. But if anyone ever finds the lamp again, perhaps...perhaps they could share your stories.”

“Thank you, Ja’far,” Sherrezade repeats, setting the typewriter down and embracing her husband. “It’s a wonderful gift.”

“I’m so glad it pleases you,” Ja’far replies.

“I’ll have to get the hang of it, though,” she points out, turning back to look at the contraption once more.

“Practice makes perfect,” Ja’far says. “Which story are you going to write first?”

Sherrezade gives him a knowing smile, leaning in for a kiss. “The best one, of course. Our story.”


End file.
